MAGNETORESISTANCE AND FIELD DEPENDENCE OF THE HALL EFFECT IN INDIUM ANTIMONIDE

Abstract

Magnetoresistance and Hall-effect measurements in InSb are described. This semiconductor has charge carriers with sufficiently long mean free paths, l, that it is possible, even at room temperature and with available magnetic fields, to obtain l/r values considerably greater than unity, r being the orbital radius of a charge carrier moving in the applied magnetic field. The classical two-band theory has been found to account rather well for the results up to the highest magnetic fields employed. A review of the underlying assumptions of this theory is presented, and simple formulae are derived which allow the concentrations and mobilities of both types of carriers to be calculated from the magnetic field dependence of the resistivity, ρH, and of the Hall-constant, AH. The parameter Λ ≡ [(AH−A0)/A0]/[(ρH−ρ0)/ρ0] provides a useful means to check the consistency of the theory and can give some indication of the variation of the mobilities with the magnetic field.